Moldova must promote ecological education and information and offer tax and financial benefits for using ecological technology that increases energy efficiency and reduces the country’s dependence on foreign sources of energy. This is the conclusion of a study of the financial instruments available for promoting eco-technologies that was presented in Chisinau in a roundtable meeting staged by the Ministry of the Environment in partnership with the UNDP/GEF Project aimed at promoting the environmental fiscal reform, IPN reports.
The study “Analysis of the financial instruments market for facilitating ecological technology” was made to establish the current situation as regards the use of eco-technologies in Moldova, to formulate proposals for replacing the energy consumption practices in the household sector, transport, industry and agriculture and to broader inform the people about the benefits of using eco-technologies.
In the presentation of the study, Deputy Minister of the Environment Dorin Dushchiak said that regretfully, the environment sector wasn’t addressed and was even treated unseriously. As a result, a series of problems appeared. “The Ministry of the Environment’s commitment is to change things in this respect. The fiscal reform is one of the main pillars of the environmental reform and of a serious, truly European approach in the environmental sector. Eco-technology is the area with the largest number of innovations today. Moldova has a great potential for using renewable energy and the solutions provided by eco-technologies. The fiscal stimulation for using renewable sources of energy and the augmentation of the budget for environmental protection can help our country meet the global environmental challenges and ensure sustainable development,” he stated.
In the same connection, manager of the UNDP/GEF Project “Strengthening capacities to undertake environmental fiscal reform” Mihai Roscovan said that Moldova risks not fulfilling the commitments undertaken at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). Under them, Moldova must reduce energy consumption and the CO2 emissions by 20% and increase the production of renewable energy by 20%.
Mihai Roscovan noted that the project has two key objectives: to help the Government fulfill the environmental protection commitments and to create a sustainable platform for implementing the environmental fiscal reform, integrated with the policy documents and strategies of different sectors.
“The environmental fiscal reform is rather complex and difficult and is not yet understood by decision makers and the people. The reform is not popular, especially in pre-election periods, because it implies essential structural changes in the environmental, social and economic sectors, which are very important for the people. But this is a necessary reform, without it, we will be unable to fulfill the commitments assumed at international level,” stated Mihai Roscovan.
